Roxette's Marie Fredrikksen sounds "better than ever," since making a full recovery from cancer in 2002, according to guitarist Per Gessle

Roxette's Marie Fredrikksen sounds "better than ever" when she performs.

The Swedish singer went through a period away from the limelight after being diagnosed with cancer in 2002, but singer and guitarist Per Gessle says after successful treatment, a long period of touring and two albums, she is on better form than ever.

He exclusively told BANG Showbiz: "We've had such a huge reception from fans recently, and for Marie's sake, it's enormously important for her to get this response and reception from the crowd.

"She's grown and grown and grown and in the last two or three months she has been amazing on stage she's been getting back her self-confidence, she sings better than ever, it's great, I haven't seen her this happy for many, many years, and that's crucial to the band."

Per also described Marie's first performance with him in years when he was doing a solo show in 2009 in Amsterdam.

He added: "She was just really nervous as she hadn't been on stage in years and years, and the reception she got from the crowd was jus mesmerising, people were crying. She sang 'Listen To Your Heart' and 'It Must Have Been Love' and from that moment, that whole thing did it for her.

"Two weeks later she phoned me and said, do you want to write a new Roxette album, so slowly but surely we started looking for opportunities to do something again."

Roxette have played in over 100 different cities on their current tour, which comes to the UK next week.